Arugula Goat Cheese Salad with Roasted Almonds

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy

Watch the recipe

YouTube ↗

Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · peppery arugula, creamy goat cheese, crunchy roasted almonds

Subscribe

Watch the full method on YouTube →

Do you tell yourself you’ll eat more fruits and veggies but never get around to it? I can relate, but I have to admit when I’ve got the opportunity to make this easy Goat Cheese Salad, I’m actually excited to dig in! I would describe this salad as the ultimate light side dish! You can pair it with something on the heavier side to balance the meal out, like Chicken Parmesan, or just have an all-around nutritious meal by pairing your salad with a light source of protein, such as my Oven-Baked Lemon and Herb Salmon! I’ve got plenty more serving and pairing ideas later on in this post, so stay tuned!

It’s never too late to discover something nutritious and easy on the stomach that’s also extremely delicious that you can include as part of your regular dinner rotation! If you want to check off including salad more regularly on your bucket list, then trying out this incredible arugula salad as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge!

To see how this super delicious Goat Cheese Salad with Arugula and Almonds comes together, be sure to watch the video! It would also mean a lot if you would please subscribe to my YouTube if you haven’t already and press the bell button to be notified when all of my video recipes go live! Let’s get started!

Dietary Information for Goat Cheese Salad

Our Arugula Almond Salad is…

• Vegetarian
• Low-carb
• Gluten-free

Tools Needed to Make Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese

• Cutting board
• Sharp chef’s knife
• Mixing bowl
• Pepper mill
• Tongs
• Spatula
• Baking sheet

Ingredients for This Arugula and Goat Cheese Salad

The FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD is available at the bottom of this post with individual ingredient quantities and to save the recipe for later! You can also scale the recipe based on how many portions of salad you’re looking to make! By default, this recipe is considering two side-dish portions.

• Arugula: Make sure your arugula is chilled before so it has a nice crunch
• Almonds: These will be roasted then chopped.
• Olive oil: The base for the salad dressing that adds lots of flavor and is full of healthy fats to promote heart health and reduce bad cholesterol!
• Lemon: Juice of half a lemon to add some freshness and zing to the dressing.
• Dijon mustard: Adds a great tart flavor to the dressing. A small amount goes a long way!
• Apple cider vinegar
• Goat cheese: Really one of my favorite parts of this salad, and I encourage you not to skimp out! I love the flavor and texture!
• Raspberries: They’ll have to be fresh for this recipe.
• Salt and pepper: Always to taste! I recommend freshly ground black peppercorns for best flavor

How to Make Healthy Goat Cheese Salad

For the Dijon Dressing

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk well to combine. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper or any other flavorings. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350 °F and add raw almonds to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until lightly roasted. Let them cool slightly before roughly chopping into smaller pieces.

In a large bowl, add the chilled arugula, salad dressing and half of the almonds. Toss using tongs to combine well.

Option 1: Add the goat cheese to the bowl and mix well until creamy. Serve the salad and top with more roasted almonds and raspberries.

Option 2: Serve the salad and distribute small dollops of goat cheese around the salad, followed by more roasted almonds and raspberries.

Tips & Tricks to Make the Perfect Salad

• Instead of getting pre-roasted almonds, I highly suggest you roast them yourself. The flavor is unlike anything else!
• Keep the arugula in the fridge until ready to use. Wash, clean and refrigerate the arugula until ready to use so that the greens are at their freshest and crispiest for the salad.
• It’s better to overestimate the size of the bowl needed to toss the salad. You need the extra space to make sure that everything mixes well without crushing any of the ingredients.
• Serve the Arugula Goat Cheese Salad immediately as the crispy greens won’t sit well in the dressing for too long.

Variations of Arugula Goat Cheese Salad

• Nuts: Instead of roasted almonds, you could do walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts or pecans.
• Cheese: If you’re not big on unripened goat cheese, then try out feta, Parmesan, blue cheese, Swiss cheese, Gruyere or even old white cheddar.
• Protein: This salad is vegetarian so it can act as a side dish. You can pair it with a protein main (I give some ideas below!), or add in some shredded poached chicken, pieces of grilled salmon, garlic-butter shrimp, or even some tofu!
• Dressing: If you want some sweetness, you could also add in some honey to the dressing.
• Berries: Freshly sliced strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries would be great in here too!
• Fruit: This salad would also be excellent with fruit! Try pieces of tangerine, pears, or apple slices.
• Veggies: Chopped tomatoes and thinly sliced onions would be great here. You could also chop up some bell peppers.
• Leafy greens: If you don’t have or don’t like arugula, then try out watercress, spinach, or even romaine lettuce.
• Other toppings: For more heart healthy fats to keep you satisfied and a nice crunch, try pumpkin seeds, hemp hearts, or sunflower seeds. You could even add some pieces of avocado or make a tasty guacamole, such as my Classic Guacamole or Chunky Mango Guacamole!

What to Serve with Arugula Salad

This Goat Cheese Arugula Salad is super versatile that you can serve it with pretty much any protein of your choice! here are just a handful of dishes that would pair perfectly with the salad:

• Lemon and Thyme Chicken Schnitzel
• Italian-Herb Grilled Chicken
• Tandoori Shrimp Skewers
• Curried Scallops
• Pan-Seared Blackened Salmon
• Brazilian Churrasco Skewers

Other Fresh and Easy Salad Recipes!

• Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
• Light Mediterranean Couscous Salad
• Healthy Vegan Lentil Salad
• Creamy Potato Salad
• Quick & Healthy Coleslaw

What This Arugula Goat Cheese Salad Is Not

There is no balsamic vinegar anywhere in this salad. The acidity comes from 1 1/2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice, which keeps the dressing bright and sharp instead of sweet and syrupy. Balsamic would flatten the raspberries rather than lift them. There is no honey and no orange juice either, so nothing is quietly doing the job of softening that tang.

It is also not a grain bowl. There are no grains in it at all: no quinoa, no farro, no chickpeas, and no beets or avocado slices to bulk it out. The only crunch is 1 tbsp of roasted almonds and the only sweetness is three raspberries per serving. That restraint is the point. At 133 calories a serving this is built to sit alongside a main course rather than replace one.

If you would rather have walnuts, toast walnuts the same way this recipe roasts the almonds: spread about 1/2 cup walnuts on a parchment-lined sheet at 350 F for 8 to 12 minutes, let them cool, then chop them roughly. To turn the salad into a meal, shredded rotisserie chicken is the easiest addition, and the same dijon dressing works well over grain bowls, though that is a different dish from the one here.

A Closer Look at the Dijon Dressing

The dressing needs a small bowl and a whisk and nothing else. Two tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of Dijon mustard, 1 1/2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice, whisked until they come together, then salt and pepper to taste. Kosher salt is the easiest to control here because the flakes dissolve slowly enough that you can keep tasting as you go. The bowl then goes into the fridge until you are ready to serve.

One batch makes roughly 6 tbsp, and only 2 tbsp of it goes over 6 oz of arugula. So a single batch dresses this salad three times over, which is the real argument for homemade dressings: you are not making it again on Wednesday. Keep the rest covered in the fridge and whisk it briefly before the next drizzle, because it separates as it sits.

If you want to swap something out, whole grain mustard gives you the same tang with a little more texture, and yellow mustard works at the same quantity for a milder result. White wine vinegar can stand in for the apple cider vinegar, and lime juice for the lemon juice if you like it a shade more tart.

Choosing and Using the Goat Cheese

The salad calls for 2 tbsp of goat cheese, which is about 1 ounce. If you are scaling up, count on roughly 4 ounces goat cheese to make this four times over. Buy a log of goat cheese rather than a tub of the pre-crumbled kind: crumbly goat cheese has been dried out so it does not clump in the packet, and both of the ways this recipe serves it want the softer, spreadable version.

The first option is to add the goat cheese straight into the bowl and mix until it turns creamy, which coats every leaf and makes the dressing taste richer than it is. The second is to serve the salad first and then dot small dollops of goat cheese over the top, so you get clean bursts of it instead. Either way, toss arugula with the dressing and half the almonds using tongs before the cheese goes anywhere near it, and keep the leaves cold. Six oz of chilled baby arugula holds its shape far better than leaves that have been sitting out.